Tuesday, February 19, 2008

I thought you might all like to know that Kim Newberg of Art & Images By Kim has an exception FREEtutorial on creating "Fabric Trinket Boxes" on her "Art & Images By Kim" website and on her "Art & Images By Kim" blog.

The summer of 2006 brought us an incredible garden and fall harvest. I spent a good portion of August and September canning and preserving the yields of our bumper crop gardens. Salsa, tomatoe stew, pickles, beets, peppers and more! Though I am now finished, it really seemed like it was never going to end.

As most canners, I enjoy giving gifts of homemade salsa, jams and other goodies to our friends and family. I probably spend just as much time decorating the jars and making goodie baskets. However, try as I do, it is often difficult to get those empty jars back, even with threats of no more salsa. This years was no exception, and with my bumper crop I found my self scrounging and scraping the bottom of the jar pile. I did manage to come up with a few jars from a variety of sources, so with some good scrubbing and brand new shiny brass lids I was back into the canning.

During the cleanup of jars, I gathered up all of the old lids and threw them into the recycle box to be sent off to our local recycler. The lids were rusted, dented and most had lost their shine. Though I felt bad to be disposing of them, I do have a standard that I must maintain for my canning.

Later that night in bed, I found myself thinking about those silly jar lids and what could I do with them. Then I found myself telling myself that "I can't recycle everything nor can I save the whole world of garbage so get a grip and leave them for the recycler"!

But in the morning when I woke up I knew exactly what to do with them. So here I was in my pj's hadn't even brushed my teeth and I was digging and clanging in our recycle box to fetch the lids. My husband thought I totally lost it when I came into the room wearing about 30 metal jar rings on my arms in my pj's.

Then armed with a rubber mallot and a hammer I went outside to the sidewalk with my lids and smashed, hammered and rubber malloted the lids flat. I only did 2 lids, but they were the most beautiful dented rustic vintage picture frames I had ever seen! I have now used some of them in my postcard art for you to see, with many plans to use these in my scrapbooks and altered book arts too!

My husband Tom has since flattened some more in his vice. Using a vice does give a "flatter" finish but use whatever tools you have available to make these fun frames for your vintage art projects. I am sure even your car tires on the driveway would work, but you are completely on your own! Have fun!

Sunday, February 17, 2008

Here I am, still messing about with different shapes to make little soft boxes. This one is based on a 6 inch circle.

For the background fabric I used a rejected piece of silk painted cotton fabric with a circular daisy motif outlined in gold gutta. I needle punched the design to a piece of muslin to give some texture to the piece and to disguise the mistakes I made with the silk paint. (Have I said how much I love this machine, I can use up all the bits I might otherwise have thrown away!). I machine stitched it to a piece of washing up cloth, used a compass to make a six petalled flower shape, zigzaged around it and cut it out.

I buttonholed it together halfway up the petals, and all around the edges. I should have used a lighter thread, perhaps a variegated stranded cotton, or even crochet cotton, instead of the perle cotton, but at the time I was more interested in the shape I was getting.

I don't much like this particular example, but I like the shape and the technique, so I will be trying it again some time - probably when I get a bigger compass! After I had made it, I wished I had used a different piece of fabric for the experiment, because the daisy bit looked so nice after it had been needlepunched and stitched and before I cut it out! Now I suppose I'll have to make another one............................

Please respect Kay Susan's Terms of Use: My tutorial is for personal, educational and non-commercial use. Reprinting, emailing, downloading, or redistributing my tutorial by any means for commercial use is prohibited.

Kay Susan's Bio: Kay Susan studied Design for Craft and Creative Embroidery at City & Guilds levels 1 and 2 and writes mainly about contemporary embroidery on her S'mockery blog. She also likes to dabble in painting and drawing and has recently become interested in cloth doll making.

Saturday, February 16, 2008

I just felt that I've got the needle punch machine, I've tried it out and now I need to make something! This quick box is made in just two main pieces; 1 the top and sides and 2, the base.

You make a pattern like a row of equal sized 'beach huts' for the main part, and a pentagon with equal sides that measure the same as the bottom of a single 'beach hut'.

The box is made from a 'sandwich of top fabric, craft or pelmet vilene and felt.

I used a piece of hand dyed muslin for the top fabric and stitched all over it in a grid pattern to hold the layers together. The decorative 'tiles' were made on the embellisher and are patches of silk fabric overlayed onto dark green flannel. I bonded all the layers together to make it easier and that was a mistake on two counts: first, it makes it very stiff and quite difficult to work and secondly you lose the quilted look that you get when you machine onto felt. I managed to needle punch the tiles onto the thick fabric sandwich, (that machine has certainly got some punch!) but I wouldn't try to do it again because the machine did get a bit hot.

I straight stitched over the tiles in a spiral pattern to harmonise them a bit more with the main fabric and edged them with a machine wrapped cord. Then I edged the whole piece by machine zigzaging on some of the same cord around the edges and attached the base with ladder stitch. I wasn't really happy with what I had done, so I buttonholed all around the edges - much better!

Then I added cords with beads and a buttonholed curtain ring for the closure and stitched some pearly buttons onto the top tiles and Hey Presto! This is quite a quick method. It took me longer than it should have done because there was a lot of experimenting with the needle felted tiles and the buttonhole stitching took a while because the fabric was so stiff. If I used this method again I would put a piece of thin card in the base, because the vilene isn't firm enough.

I still prefer the 'old fashioned, traditional' method of covering and lining individual pieces of thick card and then ladder stitching them together but this is a quick, simple method with a minimum of hand stitching and no thick card to cut. There are very clear, easy to follow instructions and lots of good ideas for using this method in this book:

5-Sided Box pattern and ideas from Beginner's Guide to Embroidered Boxes by Janet Edmonds and published by Search Press. Janet Edmonds original pattern and instructions also featured in free projects article in "Stitch" magazine.

Please respect Kay Susan's Terms of Use: My tutorial adaption is for personal, educational and non-commercial use. Reprinting, emailing, downloading, or redistributing my tutorial adaption by any means for commercial use is prohibited.

Kay Susan's Bio: Kay Susan studied Design for Craft and Creative Embroidery at City & Guilds levels 1 and 2 and writes mainly about contemporary embroidery on her S'mockery blog. She also likes to dabble in painting and drawing and has recently become interested in cloth doll making.

Friday, February 15, 2008

I thought you might all like to know that Tina Wishart has a wonderful FREE tutorial on her Teeweewonders blog on making a lavender dolly.

Here's Tina's Lavender Dolly tutorial:

My mum has always been very crafty and has taught me most of what I know about crafting; more than anything she has taught me the joy of making things with my own bare hands.

My sister-in-law loves crafting as much as I do and every time I take her to my parents we ask my mum to teach us something new. This years lesson was a lesson in making lavender dollies, or as I like to call them "lavender smellies". I love the smell and look of lavender and these wee dollies are so much nicer than your average "air freshener".

To make a lavender dolly we picked 22 very long stalks of lavender with a nice bloom. You need an odd number of stalks to make the weave work, we wove over two stalks each time, hence the 22 stalks made the odd number of 11.

We tied the lavender together with a nice silky ribbon right underneath the flowers and bent the stalks down to cover the flowers. The stalks had to be distributed evenly around the bundle to make the weave nice and even.

You weave over pairs of the stalks all the way to the bottom of the flowers and tie the ribbon around the "neck"; making a hoop for hanging in the process.

Once finished, you cut off the ends of the stalks to give an even finish. I like to cut mine at an angle, but that is obviously entirely down to taste.

I absolutely adore the outcome of this simple wee task, and I rather enjoyed fiddling with the ribbon to get it smooth. The smell off the dollies lasts a long time and if it starts to fade, just sprinkle a tiny bit of water on them, and the smell will be fresh again.

My husband took loads of pictures throughout the process, so I've put a wee collection together in a slideshow. I hope you enjoy them.

Thursday, February 14, 2008

Joni has asked me to post photo's of how I machine quilt as she's not familiar with it. She also suggested photo's of my sewing room....ha...not at the moment, I've made another mess in there....lol.. So as I spent yesterday quilting the County Life quilt I was also taking photo's. Do you know how tricky it is to take a photo with one hand?....lol.. I can tell you if you're like me, a real leftie it's almost impossible. The quilting on this quilt is by no means perfect. I try to do the best I can, but like life, nothing is perfect and that's how I like my quilts.

There is always a lot of chatter about machine quilting on a hand embroidered quilt. Whether to quilt up to the embroidery or whether to stitch through it.

This is my personal opinion and the way that I prefer to quilt. It is not a set in stone rule by any means. You all need to find what works best for you.

My thought is that if I've spent hours, (for instance this quilt was approx 70 hours of embroidery) doing the embroidery I don't want the quilting to take away from it by stitching through it. I never stitch through any of my embroidery, but stitch right up to it. When it comes to my machine quilting I'm afraid I'm not very adventurous, usually sticking to grid work, or in the ditch.

This too will be solved soon, as I'm waiting for a new book to become available.

I'm not blessed with a long arm quilting system or a home quilting system, all my quilting is done on my faithful "Jenny".

So I'll try to give you as much detail as I can Joni.

As you can see from all the pins, this is what I consider important prep work before quilting. If your quilt isn't well pinned, you're more than likely going to end up with tucks and wrinkles on the back. When I'm working in a grid, or cross hatch I mark the lines with a blue water erasable pen, my eye is not good enough to stitch a straight line from one side of a quilt to the other.

As I said before this is my way of doing it, the way I was taught and I know many will probably be surprised to see those sewing pins in the quilt.I choose the line I'm going to start on and pin on my blue line up to my stopping point. Stitch along the line, and yes I do stitch over those pins. The purpose of the sewing pins is to help prevent tucks on the back, plus it hold the top nice and firm. I try to stitch up to but not over my embroidery stitches. Cut the threads leaving a good length to pull through to the wrong side. I don't reverse and I don't have a machine that does that lovely tie off stitch. Flip the quilt over to the back and pull your top stitches through to the wrong side, tie a double knot with both the top and bottom threads, pulling close to the quilt backing.

Now thread a needle with the two strand of thread and put it back into the seam line and run the needle down the side of the seam, making sure not to go through to the front.

Travel along the seam line approx 3 - 4 inches and bring your needle back up, pull firmly and snip the threads close to the backing.

If you click on this photo you'll be able to see what I'm talking about.

Hope that helps Joni.

Happy Stitching.

Please respect Linda's Terms of Use: You are welcome to use these directions for guilds, etc. or share with others, but please do the right thing and give credit to this blog and the maker. If you do use my tutorial please leave a comment on my All Stitched Up blog and let me know that you used it and if it was helpful.

Wednesday, February 13, 2008

1. Cut 6 5 1/2 inch squares of fabric. I use the same fabric for the lining and the backing, and usually use one of the fabrics that I've chosen for the weave so that it all blends.

2. Cut 1 5 inch square of fusible batting.

3. Fuse the batting to the wrong side of your backing square.

4. Place your lining square on top of the batting lining up the raw edges.

5. With your 4 focus squares press them in half wrong sides together.

6. Place your first folded square on top of your lining, making sure that raw edges are even and that your folded edge is towards the centre of the square.

7. Place your next square on in the same way, raw edges together.

8. Place the 3rd folded square down.

9. Place your last folded square down and fold back the first piece and slip the last piece under it.

10. Pin all your pieces in place and stitch around the outside edge with a 1/4 inch seam.

11. Now turn as if you were turning a pair of socks and poke out the corners with a chop stick or wooden skewer and press.

These take about 5 minutes per coaster to make, very quick and easy.

Enjoy.

Please respect Linda's Terms of Use: You are welcome to use these directions for guilds, etc. or share with others, but please do the right thing and give credit to this blog and the maker. If you do use my tutorial please leave a comment on my All Stitched Up blog and let me know that you used it and if it was helpful.

Batting
Apply the batting to the wrong side of the front cover fabric according to the manufacturers directions. Put to one side.

Make Tabs
Fold the 6 1/2 x 2 1/2 inch strip of fabric in half lengthwise, right sides together. Stitch 1/4 inch from edges. Turn and press with the seam in the centre back. Cut into three 2 inch pieces. Fold each 2 inch piece in half lengthwise. Place raw edges along lower front edge of front cover fabric that has the bonded batting attached. two inches in from each side.

Centre the remaining tab at the lower centre back. Baste along lower edges, catching the tab ends and the batting.

Your first layer is the batting, then, lay the front piece face up (if you haven't used the bonded batting), otherwise lay the front piece with the bonded batting attached face up. Place the two pockets at each end of the front piece, lining up the edges. The folded edge should be facing the centre. (I've put my rotary cutter in the pocket so that you can see it).

Centre the 18 x 7 inch piece of lining fabric face down on top of the set. NOTE Allow an equal amount of the pocket fabric to show on each end. This will be approximately 1 inch.

Now stitch a continuous 1/4 inch seam around all four sides. Clip corner and trim seams as necessary.

Reach between the lining and the front of the cover and turn right side out. Reach into each of the pockets and turn right sides out. Press well.

Insert the front and back flaps of the steno note pad into the pockets.

Matching Pen

You need to buy the Pilot brand RSVP clear pens. The top cap will be black. (You can get these at Wal-Mart. They also come in colours, like purple, red and green). The barrel of the pen is clear. Simply unscrew the top (cap) of the pen to expose the ink cartridge. Take the 1 x 3 1/2 inch piece of fabric and tightly wrap the cartridge with the fabric. (A small piece of tape works well to hold the first wrap around) Hold in place as you insert the cartridge back into the barrel. You may have to either trim excess fabric or add a little in length depending on the brand of pen used. Screw the cap back on the pen, and you now have a matching pen for your not book.

Insert the pen through the tabs.

There you have it a covered steno pad with matching pen.

I managed to get 9 made this afternoon. Photo's of the finishes on a later date. There's alot of other things you could add to this. For instance you could add pockets to the outside of the cover, embroider initials or a name on the front or inside cover. Add trims. There's lots you could do. Let your imagination go wild.

If you use this pattern I'd love to see your creations.

Happy Stitching.

Please respect Linda's Terms of Use: You are welcome to use these directions for guilds, etc. or share with others, but please do the right thing and give credit to this blog and the maker. If you do use my tutorial please leave a comment on my All Stitched Up blog and let me know that you used it and if it was helpful.

Maria's Bio: Marie Spaulding is a visual artist whose preferred medium is wool and objects found in nature. What began with a passion for feltmaking and needle felting has evolved into a dream of helping to spread the crafts around the globe. Marie has published her own line of craft instruction booklets and kits under the brand name of Living Felt, available from http://www.livingfelt.com/ .

She has also been featured on the DIY network show Uncommon Threads, in Designer Needle Felting by Lark Books and she runs an online felting community at FeltingForum.com

Maria's Bio: Marie Spaulding is a visual artist whose preferred medium is wool and objects found in nature. What began with a passion for feltmaking and needle felting has evolved into a dream of helping to spread the crafts around the globe. Marie has published her own line of craft instruction booklets and kits under the brand name of Living Felt, available from http://www.livingfelt.com/ .

She has also been featured on the DIY network show Uncommon Threads, in Designer Needle Felting by Lark Books and she runs an online felting community at FeltingForum.com

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